Car buying and selling can sometimes be a little tricky, trying to sell your vehicle at a higher cost may result in very few interested buyers while selling too low can attract untrustworthy buyers. Below are some things to consider the next time you decide to sell your car.
Things to Consider
One of the first things you should consider is the market. You should consider whether your car is worth top dollar, if it is in demand and if you are selling at the right time. Here are a few basic and general rules in this step of the car selling process:
· If your car is a family sedan, you will likely find that this type of car is almost always in demand by people who just want something basic that they can get around in without breaking the bank.
· If you have a sports car or convertible, the time of year in which you sell influences how good of a price you can get. When the weather is sunny, warm and bright, out comes the buyers. When the weather is bad, it could take months before someone wants to buy your car.
· If you have a collector car you may have a harder time selling it and pricing collector cars is a little more difficult. On the plus side, collector cars generally will sell at more favorable prices if you as the seller are patient enough to find the right buyer.
Also consider other factors that influence market conditions and your car. A good example of this is if your car gets good gas mileage during a time in which gas prices are high, you will be able to sell it at a higher price than during those times when gas prices are lower. Meanwhile if you have a gas guzzler, even if it’s a brand spanking new SUV in mint condition, you likely will get less if gas prices are high.
Check Online Price Guides
Another thing you should do when you are selling your car is check the pricing guide such the published blue book value and find out what’s your car worth. The estimated value of your car is determined by mileage, condition, options, color and even which part of the country you live in. The car’s estimated value is the transaction price, your asking price may be higher or lower.
Checkout the competition
You should also look at the competition’s classified ads, web sites such as eBay Motors and Craigslist have listings that you can use to compare the different asking price of similar vehicles. Most websites are equipped with a search engine that can help you to match your vehicle with other similar vehicles. However, prices listed are only asking prices, what the actual selling price is or becomes may be very different than the advertised rate. You should compare things such as mileage, condition, the ad seller’s geographic location as well as your own and the asking price before setting the price of your vehicle ad.
Flexibility
Your car should be priced competitively while leaving a little room for negotiation. As a rule, you should ask for a little more than what you expect to get. If someone is willing to buy your car for the asking price, great, however if you must lower the price you won’t be losing much. Also, worth considering are the psychological aspects of car buying, pricing your car just below amounts such as every $10,000 can make the deal seem sweeter and is something that car dealers do often and to the extreme. Whatever the reason may be, a product priced at $100 might not sell well whereas a $95.99 price tag may sell much faster. While you want to use certain tactics in selling your vehicle, you don’t, however, want to come off as a car dealer, rather than selling your car at price such as $19999, you may want to pick rounded figures such as $9750 or $9500.
Lastly, you should use your intuition and trust your gut feeling after you have analyzed all the data and information. If you feel the time is right to ask for a higher price or that your car is one that people want to buy, asking a little more won’t really do any harm, you can always lower the price if your car is not selling. Meanwhile pricing your car on the low side may put you at a loss. The more research you do, the better and you will be more likely to get the highest possible amount for your used car. If you have done your homework and created a good ad, the car is likely to sell itself.
